'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA' ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Author(s): ALISTAIR SMITH and Albrecht Dürer

Source: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts , APRIL 1979, Vol. 127, No. 5273 (APRIL
1979), pp. 273-290
Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and
Commerce

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41372911

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 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA'
ALBRECHT DÜRER AND
VENETIAN ART

I The Fred Cook Memorial Lectur

III ALISTA IR SMITH I

Deputy Keeper , National Galler

Wednesday 24th May 1978 , w
Director , National Gallery

The Chairman: I took it very kindly that Dürer, and the impact of Dürer on Italy, or in
Mr. Smith, who sees me at least once daily, wasthis case on Venice.
prepared to see me again at this Society this I think that on the whole the English have
afternoon! He has a very busy life at the tended to admire Dürer more than to like him.
National Gallery. Among his responsibilities is Our artists over the centuries have varied very
that for the German pictures. It is not therefore
much in their attitudes to him. For somebody
surprising that one of his interests should belike Nicholas Hilliard Dürer was the most
Dürer. (I shouldn't like you to think that youexquisite man for true delineation. Hogarth
are in any way the subject of a National Galleryregarded him quite differently. But I see that I
conspiracy this afternoon, because it is only fair am about to succumb to something known as
to say that whether or not the National GalleryChairman's Disease, which is to give a lecture
has any paintings by Dürer is a bone of conten-instead of introducing it. The right rôle at this
tion between to-day's speaker and myself.) Mr. point for a chairman is to be the best man, and
Smith also has a deep and serious interest in the having supported the Lecturer to this point in
Italian Renaissance, and in the title of his lecture
the ceremony it is only decent that he should
this afternoon we see those two interests broughtwithdraw for the actual occasion itself. I call
together to make a fascinating theme, the impact upon Mr. Smith not to approach the altar, but
of Italy, in this case particularly Venice, onto approach the lectern.

The following lecture , which was illustrated, was then delivered.

'Of a truth , if this man, so able , so diligent bringing the book up to date. Some of them
and so versatile , had had Tuscany instead comprise expanded sections on artists
of Flanders for his country , and had he already mentioned in the first edition but
been able to study the treasures of Rome , about whom Vasari had in the meantime
as we ourselves have done , he would have become much better informed. There is also
been the best painter of our land , even as an expanded treatment of several 'foreig-
he was the rarest and most celebrated that ners'. From Vasari's point of view this term
has ever appeared among the Flemings .' would cover artists from the Northern
G. Vasari , The Lives of the Artists, 1568. reaches of Italy (e.g., painters from Venice,
including Titian) as well as all those from
North of the Alps, who are still to-day
edition of his Lives in 1568, he made 'foreign' to Italians. Vasari's geographical
When several editionseveral
Vasarisignificant
of significant his published
additions tot he Lives additions in 1568, the he second tot made he terminology was not very precise. He
slimmer volumes which appeared in 1550. referred to all those who lived north of the
The extra passages mainly take the form of Alps with almost indiscriminate xenophobia,

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 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL I979

as 'Flemish' - although Flanders comprised

I do not agree in the least with the utterances of
only part of the area nowthose who say 'Ifas
known Albrecht Dürer had only lived
Belgium.
So it was that he referred to Albrecht Dürer in Rome for a while and learned true beauty and
as 'the most celebrated painter that has everthe ideal from Raphael, then he would have
become a great painter; one has to pity him and
appeared among the Flemings'.
marvel that he, nevertheless, achieved so much
There is a distinctly nationalistic basis toin his position'. I find nothing to pity here;
Vasari's assessment of the artist. He main-
rather I rejoice that Fate has granted to German
tains that Dürer would have been so much soil a truly native painter. ... He was not born
the greater artist had he been born (as for the perfection and lofty grandeur of a
Vasari himself was) in Tuscany, and had heRaphael ; he took his pleasure in this, depicting
had recourse to the ancient monuments to for us human beings as they actually were in his
be seen in Rome (as Vasari himself had). surroundings, and he succeeded most admirably.
Over five centuries Dürer has found many Wackenroder was, like most visionaries,
to speak, or rather write, in his defence rather inconsistent. One moment, as above,
against this onslaught. The habit of justifi- he asserts Dürer's ability to document
cation of the German artist began within his human life as he saw it, the next he com-
lifetime, when he was described, by none pares his art with the ťlofty grandeur' of
less than Erasmus, as ťThe Apelles of black Raphael.
lines'. He was also the hero of an endearing When I for the first time saw paintings by
anecdote recorded (or more probably inven- Raphael as well as by you, my beloved Dürer, in
ted) by Joachim Camerarius.1 In it, the aged a magnificent art gallery during my younger
Giovanni Bellini begs Dürer to show him years, it occurred to me most amazingly that, of
one of the special brushes with which he all the other painters whom I knew, these two
made such fine lines. 'Take any one', had a particularly close affinity to my heart. It
pleased me very much that they both present to
Albrecht is said to have replied, showing that
it was not his brush but his hand which held our eyes so clearly and distinctly mankind in the
fullness of soul, so simply and straightforwardly,
the secret of his precise linear description. without the ornamental digressions of other
One particular segment of the history of painters. At that time, however, I did not dare to
Dürer's apotheosis is of particular relevance reveal my opinion to anyone, for I believed that
to the theme of his relations with Venice. It everyone would laugh at me and I well knew
is the period of about fifty years, beginning that the majority perceive nothing other than
in 1780 and culminating in 1828 with the something very stiff and dull in this early
elaborate Dürerfest in Nuremberg which German painter. On the day when I had seen
that art gallery I was, however, so filled with the
celebrated the 300th anniversary of the
new thought that I fell asleep therewith and, in
artist's death. This brief span has recently
the night, a delightful vision appeared before me
come in for much scholarly scrutiny and has which confirmed me even more firmly in my
been recognized as a time when the spirit of belief. It seemed to me, namely, that after mid-
Romanticism was gathering force all over night I had gone with a torch out of the room of
Europe. In Germany, an awakening of the castle in which I was sleeping. Totally alone
interest in old German art and language I walked through the dark halls of the building
coincided with the discovery of the Italian toward the art gallery. When I arrived at the
primitives. door, I heard a soft murmuring within - I
The history of the time has been variously opened it - and suddenly I started back in
surprise, for the entire large hall was illuminated
written but all commentators agree about
by a strange light and in front of numerous
the seminal significance of a short book
pictures were standing their venerable masters
which was published in 1797. It contained in living form and in their old-fashioned dress,
some brief essays by Wilhelm Heinrich just as I had seen them in portraits. One of them,
Wackenroder.2 Its title, Effusions from the whom I did not know, told me that they
heart of an art-loving friar , expresses the descended from heaven on many a night, and, in
tone of the work, much concerned with the the nocturnal stillness, wandered about in
deeply expressive qualities which old Chris- picture galleries here and there on earth and
tian art had achieved. One of the brief texts viewed the still beloved works of their hands. I
is entitled A pious memorial to our venerable recognized many Italian painters; from the
Netherlands I saw very few. Full of reverence I
ancestor Albrecht Dürer . It takes up the passed between them, and behold! there, apart
cudgels with Vasari, whom Wackenroder is from all the others, Raphael and Albrecht Dürer
known to have read, on the subject of were standing hand in hand in the flesh before
Tuscany and Rome being the home of true my eyes and were silently gazing in friendly
standards of art. Wackenroder writes, tranquillity at their paintings, hanging side by

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA* AND 'ITALIA* : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure i. Franz Pforr , Dürer and Raphael before the Throne of Art.
Engraved by von Hoff , Frankfurt , 1832-5

side. I did not have the courage to address both

the Raphael and Dürer in their Parnassus.
divine Raphael; a mysterious, reverential fear
The effusions of Wackenroder's monk found
sealed my lips. However, I was just about totheir visual form in the work of a group of
greet my Albrecht and pour out my love to German artists headed by Franz Pforr and
him - when,1 at that moment, everything be-
Friedrich Overbeck. Not only did some of
came disarranged before my eyes with a great
din and I awoke with a violent start. the group model their appearance on Dürer's
famous self-portrait of 1500 (a circumstance
In Wackenroder's time Raphael was partially responsible for their being derisively
almost universally accepted as the highest
nick-named The Nazarenes ), one of their
point of art. Thus in uniting Dürer with
number formed an extensive collection of
him Wackenroder elevates the German's
Dürer's prints. Their strong linear quality
accomplishments to approach near divinity. became the basis of the group's drawing
By extension, he elevates the whole art of One drawing by Pforr can serve to
style.
the North.
exemplify both the physical and emotional
True art blooms not only under Italian skies, tenor of the art of the Nazarenes (Figure 1).
under majestic domes and Corinthian columns Dürer kneels at the right hand, Raphael
- but also beneath pointed arches, intricatelyat the left, of a woman representing Art.
ornamented buildings and Gothic arches.
This lady is endowed with a halo, as would
Peculiarly, this deep commitment to his be the Madonna in an altarpiece of the
native North was paralleled by an equallyRenaissance period. Here she mediates
intense vision of Italy's creative rôle. between the artists and Heaven. Dürer
Wackenroder's essay Sehnsucht nach Italien kneels in prayer; Raphael is on one knee like
was perhaps his most influential. a suitor. Behind Dürer is visible the skyline
Certainly it played an important part in of Nuremberg; Raphael's backdrop shows
the lives and works of the succeeding the outline of St. Peter's, Rome.
generation of German artists, great numbers The drawing itself (made in, or a little
of whom left their native land to live in before, 1 8 10) is only one work which
Rome. Their principal influence was the expresses the deep desire to unify the prin-
paintings of Italian artists of the fifteenth ciples of Northern art, and specifically those
century but, like Wackenroder they included embodied in Dürer's production, with

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 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Italian ones. It is easy totaneously

quote two further
' echt-vaterländisch ' and in posses-
examples of this aspirationsion of Tuscan
- Franz and RomanPforr's
qualities - he
Sulamith and Maria and Friedrich Over- diverged from his pupil over the interpreta-
beck's Italia and Germania . tion of a Dürer letter. It is in this let Ler that
The essential point is that, in the earlyFiorillo saw evidence of a stay in Venice
years of the nineteenth century German art eleven years before the documented one of
seems to have been consumed with a desire 15°5~7- The passage in question had been
to invent a 'complete' style which synthe- known to many, including Wackenroder,
sized, for the first time, the principles of fromtwo its publication by Christoph Gottlieb
peaks of art - the Northern summit repre- von Murr in 1781, but, until Fiorillo, no one
sented by Dürer with his access to the spirit saw in it any suggestion of an earlier journey
of the Christian Middle Ages; the Italian by Dürer to Italy.4
apex personified by Raphael who, in addition My contention is that Fiorillo's interpre-
allowed entry to the atmosphere of the tation is open to question ; that the spirit of
Mediterranean antique past. the time militated for a close, deep relation-
German art historians were as much prey ship between Dürer and Italy, and that
to this aspiration as artists. For the study of Fiorillo himself, deeply influenced by the
Dürer's relations with Italy, the most desire to give Dürer a formative Italian
important scholar is Johann Dominik experience, subconsciously succumbed to the
Fiorillo, curator of engravings at the Uni- attractive idea of a journey made by Dürer
versity of Göttingen and sometime tutor of early in his life, when he was still impres-
Wackenroder in the history and theory of sionable, and mature neither in technique
art. His Geschichte der zeichnenden Künstenor , conception.
published some twenty years after Wacken- Let us examine the letter in question
roder's effusions had reached the public, dispassionately, if that is possible. Written
contains a short life of Dürer.3 in Venice on 7th February 1506, during
Fiorillo was deeply influenced by his Dürer's so-called 'second' stay there, it is
brilliant pupil, and provably so, for his addressed to Willibald Pirckheimer. The
assessment of Dürer repeats snatches of crucial passage reads as follows :5
Wackenroder's Pious Memorial virtually word Giovanni Bellini has highly praised me before
for word. For example : many nobles. He wanted to have something of
Without indulging in any great argument, each mine, and himself came to me and asked me to
must understand that the perfection and lofty paint him something and he would pay me well
grandeur of the antique remained closed to him; for it. And all men tell me what an upright man
he took his pleasure in this, depicting for us he is, so that I am really friendly with him. He is
human beings as they actually were in his very old, but is still the best painter. And the
surroundings, and he succeeded most admirably. thing which pleased me so much eleven years ago ,
. . . We rejoice that Fate granted to German soil pleases me no longer ; if I had not seen it for myself
a truly German painter. I should not have believed anyone who told me.

Fiorillo takes up, as did his pupil before The italicized passage suggested to
him, the elevation of Dürer's reputation. HeFiorillo the possibility of an earlier Italian
declares him the equal of Leonardo in journey.
'universality' (i.e., as artist and theorist). HisIt seemed to Fiorillo to prove that Dürer
Four Apostles combines the qualities of had been in Venice eleven years previously.
Michelangelo ('grand scale') with those of Sandwiched between references to Giovanni
Raphael ('gentle nobility and beautiful Bellini and Jacopo de'Barbari ('there are
handling') yet surpasses them in truth, many better painters here than Master
power, in 'the tremendous play of light and Jacob'), it suggested to later scholars that
shade, and in the colour of the costumes'. the item mentioned ('the thing') could well
Taken all in all, Fiorillo's vision of Dürer be a painting which Dürer had seen and
depends upon his being in a position to liked while on a first journey to Venice
know Italian work well enough to absorb around 1494 or '95. His present dislike of it
and eventually surpass its qualities. At anyis argued to be the result of a change in his
rate the salient point of Fiorillo's Life is histaste during the intervening period.
attribution to Dürer of not one, but two> This 'first' journey to Italy is now gener-
Italian journeys. ally accepted to have taken place, despite the
Although Fiorillo inherited Wacken- fact that it is nowhere mentioned specifically
roder's inconsistency - his Dürer is simul-in Albrecht's letters, nor in his published

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA' : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

lessness in later years (although this is far

from certain), yet there is no reason to think
that their early time was not happy enough
to preclude separation so soon after their
wedding. A piece of visual evidence can be
brought to bear. At this period Albrecht
made a rapid sketch of his wife. Its insight
and informality speaks of the closeness of
their relationship as does his tender inscrip-
tion "mein agnes' (Figure 2).
Incidentally this drawing as much as any
other makes it easy to understand how
Vasari found it impossible to accept the very
basis of Dürer's art. Dürer ignores the
whole rationale which was part and parcel
of the study of the antique. 'Mein agnes'
forbears precise anatomy, lighting or des-
cription of space. His line is expressionist
rather than descriptive of physical cir-
cumstances. The approach is emotional
rather than rational; it places reliance on the
artist's natural way of seeing rather than on
years of learning an approved method.
Of course, Dürer was to become the first
Northern artist to learn the approved Italian
way (although not to Vasari's satisfaction).
It is our purpose to define exactly when and
how he came to absorb it and in what way it
tempered his natural German art. To do
this requires a careful examination of the
complete œuvre , but since I have scarcely
time to do this I should like to limit myself
to summarizing my view of Dürer's relation-
Figure 2. Albrecht Dürer , Agnes Dürer ship with Italian art, which we will see is,
('Mein Agnes'), Drawing , Vienna , almost exclusively, with art from the region
Albertina
controlled by the Venetian republic.
There is no doubt that Dürer knew a
considerable amount about Italian art and
treatises. I should like to side with those life even early in his career. This is no
nineteenth-century scholars who could not surprise, for Nuremberg had constant com-
accept an obscure phrase in an informal mercial relations with Venice. Trade connec-
letter as being acceptable evidence. The tions were good. Thanks to the comparatively
words 'if I had not seen it for myself I should well-worn Brenner Pass, a man could ride
not have believed anyone who told me' from Augsburg to Trent in as little as five
surely imply that Dürer has just clapped days, and it is known that Lucas Rem
eyes on 'the thing' for the first time. Perhaps (later to become a great commercial ambas-
the thing which pleased him some 'eleven sador) rode, at the age of thirteen, from
years before' was some sort of reproduction Augsburg to Venice in only ten. There was
(drawing, engraving or small three-dimen- established in Venice a merchants' hall in
sional model) of an original which he finds which all the Germans lived together
disappointing in the flesh. ( Fondaco dei Tedeschi). The trains carrying
Concluding that this letter does not prove cotton north over the Alps carried other
an early Italian journey, I should like to items including works of art.
raise another objection. Dürer married Agnes Thus, when artists from Southern Ger-
Frey on 7th July 1494, yet we are asked to many or Nuremberg itself interject into
believe that he left her for a lengthy period their compositions a lady in Venetian
almost immediately. It is perhaps true that costume, a lobster or a type of boat which
their relationship became strained by child- docked in Venice, this is no real evidence for

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Figure 3. Dürer , A Lady in Nuremberg Dress and a Lady in

Drawing , Frankfurt^ Städelsches Kunstinstitut

produced in Ferrara.
supposing that they had actually madeWolgemut
the copied
journey into Italy. some of these, as did Dürer. Since we know
It cannot be seriously maintained, for that these prints had. been imported into
example, that Michael Wolgemut, Dürer's Nuremberg it is acceptable that Dürer copied
master, ever went to Italy, yet his powerful them without ever going to Italy, and it is
workshop was clearly au fait with Italian highly probable that further drawings of his
graphic production. Their knowledge stem- do not so much document an Italian journey
med from their ownership of imported but rather give evidence of his interest in
prints like the famous so-called Tarocchi imports from Venice.

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA' : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure 4. Dürer , Lady in Venetian Costume. Drawings

Vienna , Albertina

His drawing of a Venetian lady (who that the costume, perhaps worn by a visiting
represents Italia ) and her Nuremberg com-Venetian lady, was transported from Venice.
panion ( Germania ) (Figure 3) seems not to It could have been actually owned by Dürer,
have been made from the life but is an or perhaps seen by him in the studio of
assemblage made on two separate occasions. another artist. There are many ways in which
It is clear that the drawing need not have he could have seen it without ever making
been made in Venice. Is this the case, how- the trip to Venice.
ever, with the life study on which it depends In any case he made a study of the costume
and which is signed and dated by Dürer from life, and later used this drawing as a
(Figure 4) ? I believe it is more than possiblebasis for other fittings, when he clothed

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

The extent to which Dürer was capable of

animating Italian prints can be precisely
measured by considering his drawing of The
Death of Orpheus of 1494 (Figure 7). Many
scholars consider this to be copied from an
original by Mantegna, although no such
Mantegna now exists. A print from North
Italy (Figure 8) which tells the story naively
and dispassionately is more likely to have
acted as a source which Dürer elaborated in
his own manner. The nature of Dürer's re-
working of his original allows insight not
only into his style but into the function of his
drawing. The schematic narrative is lent all
the exaggerated musculature that Dürer
found in Mantegna's Sea Gods. The dy-
namism of the forms, the violence and
passion of emotion are Dürer's own. So too
are the changes which he made to his source.
Most important among these are the trees
with a scroll and the new facial aspect of
Orpheus himself. From comparison of
Orpheus's face with that of Willibald
Pirckheimer (Figure 9), it would appear that
Dürer gave his friend's features to the man
in his print. The trees behind him might
seem to confirm this for one of them is surely
a birch (in German, Birke ) which therefore
puns on his name. Tied to this very tree is a
scroll inscribed Orfeuss der erst puseran
{Orpheus the first pederast ) ; thus the presence
of the fleeing boy is explained. Orpheus was
said to have been beaten to death by the
Thracian women because of his introducing
this particular vice into their land.
The drawing must then have had a
private, personal function. It probably con-
Figure 5. Dürer , Sketch for a Stsomething
stituted Catherine of a private joke between
{with Agnes Dürer as model).
artist Drawing ,
and model. Needless to say it should
New York , Metropolitan
notMuseum
be taken as evidence of a homosexual
relationship between the two, but it does
suggest
various models in it. It was that the
slightly friendship between Dürer
modified
and Pirckheimer
and grafted on to the features of Agneswas established
when earlier than
she modelled for a standing has previously
St. Catherine
been supposed. Also, the
(Figure 5) - which suggests source of theAlbrecht
that drawing might lead us to
had in the meantime acquired postulate a that Italian prints
similar dress were sent to
for use as a studio ťprop'Dürer by Pirckheimer, who studied in Italy
In the same way, through from import,
1488 to 1495. Dürer
gained familiarity with Italian engravings.
If this is so, it means that Dürer had an
In 1494, he made two drawings based on early and regular source of communication
prints by the famous Andrea Mantegna with Italy, and that the copies of Italian
(Figure 6). Dürer's native technique, with prints which have come down to us are only
its use of cross-hatching gleaned from en- a few which remain from what must have
gravings by Martin Schongauer (Dürer been a far greater number. Thus it appears
owned three drawings by the Colmar artist),probable that Dürer, a considerable draughts-
achieves a more three-dimensional and man at an early age, was able to found a
dynamic interpretation of the antique style deeply influenced by Italian graphics
relief
style than does his Italian original. while still at a distance from Italy.

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA' : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure 6. Dürer , Battle of the Sea Gods {after Mantegna). Drawing , Vienna , Albertina

Some support for this observation is given I would rather be shown their meaning than
by the fact that it is only in the medium behold
of a new kingdom.
engraving that Italian influence manifestsWhen he wrote to Pirckheimer from
itself fully at this period. In painting and in
Venice in 1506, however, he said,7 'There
woodcut there are a few examples of overt
are many better painters here than Master
Italian influence. If Dürer had gone to
Jacopo'.
Venice in 1494 one would expect a flurry of
Venetian 'exercises' in his work at that date. This phrase surely makes it clear that until
This is not the case. There is no evidence of that time Jacopo was the only Venetian
influence from anything other than graphic painter that Albrecht had seen before
media. actually going to Venice - another argument
At one point there is visible an intensifica-against an early journey to Venice.
tion of interest in the nude, but this begins Before the summer of 1505, then, Dürer
after 1500, all precisely datable examples seems not to have set foot in Italy, the
coming after that date. It was then that Italianate elements in his art being gleaned
Dürer also became interested in the pro- from engravings.8 For the famous Fall of
portional construction of figures. Both these Man (1504), the proportional drawings, the
enthusiasms must have been sparked off by Satyr engravings of 1505, Jacopo de'Barbari
the presence in Nuremberg from 1500 to must be granted a catalytic rôle, just as
1503 of Jacopo de'Barbari. Dürer was laterPirckheimer's presents from Italy inspired
to demonstrate his allegiance to Jacopo : 6 the earlier works of antique subject-matter.
Diirer's production up to 1505 can be
I can find none who hath written aught about
clearly understood without the need for an
how to form a canon of human proportions, save
one man, Jacopo by name, born at Venice and aItalian journey. His paintings and woodcuts
charming painter. He showed me the figures ofare comprehensible within the Northern
a man and a woman which he had drawn tradition although Jacopo's presence affec-
according to a canon of proportions ted theirnow
; and perspectivai accuracy. In the main

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Figure 7. Dürer , The Death of Orpheus. Drawing , Hamb

they are more prone to fantasy, Dürer did imagination

not become a rich man in
and linearity than are the engravings.
Venice, The as well as
but his art, painting
latter attempt a tonal, chiaroscuro effect.when he was
graphics, gained recognition
What is most noticeable is the fact that the i there and eventually resulted in his being
antique subject-matter and Italian forms are a stipend by the Patriarch.
I offered
restricted to engravings and drawings. Dürer spent about eighteen months in
After years of creating, for the well- Northern Italy, the details of his stay being
established humanist public of Southern j known not only from documents but from
Germany, engravings which were antique his letters to Pirckheimer. He wrote the first
either in style or content, Dürer's increasing of these in January 1506, but seems to have
interest in the proportional basis of Italian' I travelled south in late summer 1505. He
art made a journey south all the more ' remained in Italy until 1507, a fact attested
desirable. There was also sound financial I by an inscription in his copy of Euclid's
sense in a trip since he could sell prints on - 'This book I bought in Venice
i Elements
the Venetian market and might expect j for a ducat in the year 1507 - Albrecht
commissions from the German merchants Dürer'.9 He was back in Nuremberg by the
there. end of February 1507.

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APRIL 1979 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA5 : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure 8. Anonymous Ferrarese ( ?) Master , The Death of Orpheus. Engraving

The effect of the confrontation with

Venetian painting is easy to see. Whereas
before his journey, black and white prints
had influenced his own black and white
work, now the contact with paintings pro-
duced an immediate reaction in colour. This
is most clearly seen in a change in Dürer's
drawing method. When in Venice he took up
the use of coloured paper. Prepared with a
kind of blue, greenish or grey covering, it
promotes a greater harmony of effect (Figure
10). Dürer's drawings on this new-found
support became immediately less linear,
hatchings and cross-hatchings in white
defìnining patches of highlight ; his dark ones
creating shadows. The coloured paper actfc
as the middle tone, neither highlight rior
shadow. The final result is that the work
becomes tonally-based rather than line-
based. Dürer recognizes that visual experi-
ence is created by light. He no longer invents
a linear formula for the things he sees.
Essentially his new drawing style was
conceived in imitation of effects which had
been attained by painters in Venice. TheirFigure 9. Dürer , Portrait of Pirckheimer as
lack of sharp lines, their depiction of the 'Caput Physicum'. Woodcut
effects of light were the qualities which
Dürer sought. We do not need to rely on the
evidence of the eye alone, for one of Dürer's
of the Rosegarlandsy which he painted for the
letters shows that he was much concerned German community in Venice, he says,10
'I have stopped the mouths of all the
with painterly effects. Referring to his Feast

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Figure io. Dürer , Angel's Head ( Study for The Feast of

Drawing , Vienna , Albertina

painters who used to saycisely thatbecauseIof was good

the present at
poor condition
engraving but, as to painting, I did not of the painting.
know how to handle my colours. Now The same quality of modelling by light, the
everyone says that better colouring theysense of men and women within a lighting
have not seen.' situation which exists for only a brief
The picture's power at the time is moment - in short, the definition of one
moment in time - is more clearly visible in
attested by the fact that Vasari asserted that
its drapery-painting influenced that of some of the portraits painted at this time.
Giovanni Bellini, although there is a clear This particular ability to define time had
debt to Bellini's composition and figure been part of the canon of Italian painting
style. To-day, however, it demonstrates a for some years. Leonardo da Vinci had
splendour and variety of colouring unsur- brought it to a peak of scientific accuracy in
passed in Dürer's other works, but its most his Last Supper , when he showed the meal
impressive quality could well have been the being eaten at twilight. In Venice, the
atmospheric treatment of the landscape, technique was being simultaneously devel-
although this is difficult to ascertain pre- oped, although in a slightly different way, by

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA' AND 'ITALIA' : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure 11. Giorgione , The Tempest. Venice, Accademia

Giovanni Bellini. In his paintings atmos- master (quite apart from the visual evidence
pheric conditions not only serve to define a Feast of the Rosegar lands). 11 Certainly
of the
time of day, but act as an emotional prompt Dürer's art was most deeply affected by
to the spectator. Of course, the classic inBellini's
the landscapes, which mysteriously
genre is Giorgione's Tempest (Figure 11) in
combine a scientific interest in topography,
which the storm dictates not only the geology and botany, with skies which create
turbulent psychology of the painting but a mood and impart a precise and dramatic
precisely schedules its timescale to the shorttiming to the scene.
second in which a flash of lightning crosses The scenes which Dürer studied in water-
the sky and illuminates the landscape. colour on his return to Nuremberg docu-
'He is very old, but still the best painter',ment the effect of Bellini upon his percep-
wrote Dürer of Giovanni Bellini on 7th tion of landscape. Naturally scholars have
February 1506, enough to suggest that he discussed Dürer's watercolours a great deal,
studied carefully the works of this major and, accepting the notion of an early

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Figure 12. Diirer , Pond in the Woods. Water-colour , Lo

Figure 13. Diirer, Mills on a River Bank. Water-colour

Bibliothèque Nationale

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA* AND 'ITALIA* : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

journey through the Alps, have concluded haps in his new-found desire to document
that many of them belong to that so-called the changing light conditions Dürer dis-
'first journey'. Recently, however, some covered not a more precise realism but a new
stylistic arguments have been put forward expressive intensity. Certainly the Venetian
for dating some of these landscapes rather technique seems heightened in his hands,
later.12 controlled by his visionary temperament.
This movement coheres with my own The effect of Venice upon Dürer seems to
view for, since I believe in only one Italianhave been short-lived. In those landscapes
journey I feel that those views of Trent, and perhaps one more painting (The
Arco and Segonzano must have been made Allerheiligenbild) he preserves the intensely
either on the way to Venice in 150$ or on felt colour. In these works, he seems to have
the way back in 1507. The views accord united perfectly his Germanic, expressionist
much more with summer than winter and temperament (that which created the Apo-
must therefore have been made on his calypse ), the Northern microscopic obses-
journey south. The marvellous view siveness of Arco(of the nature studies) with the
exemplifies Dürer's concern at thisVenetian time - reaction to nature as a sensual
masterful composition, and detailedchromatic topo- experience.
graphy, with a suggestion of differential The marriage of such strongly disparate
focus, little or no atmospheric effect. elements could not last for long. All too soon
After his exposure to Venetian painting, Dürer's methodical, theoretical nature took
the whole attitude of Dürer to landscape the upperis hand. The preparation of his
as changed as his view of the portraittreatises
and thewith their geometric speculation
altarpiece. He has to work quickly, for seemshe to
no gain control and dictate the
longer simply records a permanentappearance topo- of his paintings. Only at times
graphy or geology. He is searching to wasdocu-
his subconscious allowed to rule the
ment the fleeting effects of nature, those
increasing theoretical correctness. At one
which last only a moment. In one drawing moment later in his life, the subconscious
we see him failing to finish, the sky havingsupreme, but yet expressed itself in
reigned
changed too quickly for him to record the which he owed to his experience of
the form
lighting of the trees on the left (Figure 12).
his Venetian journey - panoramic descrip-
Another masterly drawing, madetion nearof atmospheric effect. But then his
Nuremberg after his return from Italy, has
inscription on the water-colour in question
the fascination of showing changes made describesas the event much better than anyone
the light has gradually altered (Figure 13). hope to.13
else can
Beneath the dark approach of night Ininthethenight between Wednesday and Thursday
upper sky is a rich blue which Dürerafter clearly
Whit Sunday [30th, 31st May 1525] I saw
set in when the sky still showed thethis blue of
appearance in my sleep- how many great
afternoon. As sunset approached and twilight waters fell from heaven. The first struck the
deepened he added the darker shades of earth about four miles away from me with
night
and the pink streaks of the setting sun. terrific
Some force and tremendous noise, and it
details of the drawing are inconsistent broke up and drowned the whole land. I was so
with
sore afraid that I awoke from it. Then the other
the final lighting situation. The precision of
waters fell and as they fell they were very
detail in the buildings is that of a normal
powerful and there were many of them, some
afternoon, when the drawing was begun. If
farther away, some nearer. And they came down
Dürer had completely converted his from scene to a height that they all seemed to fall
so great
agree with his final sunset situation, withthe
an equal slowness. But when the first water
houses would have been no more than dark that touched the earth had very nearly reached
silhouettes against the sky. But then it it,
is it fell with such a swiftness, with wind and
their abnormal detail which helps to giveroaring, and I was so sore afraid that when I
awoke all my body trembled and for a long whi'e,
Dürer's vision the sense of the paranormal.
The combination of afternoon lightingI on could not recover myself. So when I arose in
the morning I painted it above here as I saw it.
the humble buildings and the heightened
God turn all things to the best.
sunset colour of the large tree (which he Albrecht Dürer.
worked and re-worked as the drawing was
progressing) distances this landscape from The picture of a man trying to paint his
terrifying dream with precision and almost
the tight and prosaic description of the pre-
Venetian drawings. It has many times been pedantry is a true symbol of Dürer's
ambivalent nature.
recognized as a visionary experiment. Per-

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL I979

Figure 14. Titian , 'Noli me tangere'. London, Nat

At one time I had hoped to give some I obvious influences were on the youthful
indication of the range of Diirer's influence Titian.
I
on Italian art, and specifically on Venetian First, a brief comparison of portraits, by
painters, but that subject too would demand which I would hope to suggest that the
an over-lengthy talk. I hope I will not try psychological tension of a Dürer portrait
your patience, however, if I close by was to become part of the Venetian vocabu-
indicating what are to me his two most lary.14
important influences. They do not concern Second, a word about the development of
Bellini, so often quoted as his admirer, those areas of visible impasto usually in
perhaps because he was by that time very white (or some other high tone) which
old and not to able to absorb processes became so characteristic of Venetian paint-
which were foreign to him. I think the most ing. In Titian's 'Noli me tangere 9 (Figure 14)

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APRIL I979 'GERMANIA* AND 'ITALIA* : ALBRECHT DÜRER AND VENETIAN ART

Figure 15. Dürer , The Flagellation. Woodcut

f this fine mode of expression is the Dürer

the area in Christ's loin-cloth is freely painted)
the brush-strokes becoming quite easily visi- I woodcut (Figure 15). For in the woodcut
ble to the spectator. Thus the area of highest medium the line itself is always teetering on
tone in the painting is also emphasized by the verge of being a line rather than a
this painting treatment. The strokes of paint descriptive form. And in Diirer's woodcuts
seem to have been applied with great speed,perhaps more than in any other artist of the
and the pace of application functions to time, the line achieves an expressive force in
express the dramatic pace of the narrative,excess of its imitative function.
to suggest the speed with which Christ Perhaps I have said enough to indicate
recoils from the Magdalen. The essence of that Diirer's stay in Venice had some
this technique is the visual separation of a important repercussions on Venetian art -
piece of the painting from its imitative perhaps some justification for allowing
function. To put it simply - the paint is seen Germania to precede Italia in my title.
to be paint as much as being an imitation REFERENCES
loin cloth. It seems to me that one of the I. A. Durer, De òymmetrta etc., lat. per Joach.
Camerarius, Norimbergae [1532], conveniently
contributing factors to Titian's invention of
I available in Hans Rupprich, Dürer: Schriftlicher

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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS APRIL 1979

Nachlass (Berlin, 1956), Vol. I, p. 307, and in 1 The Chairman: Some of you may have
English in W. M. Conway, The Writings of Albrecht
Durer ( 1889), d. 156. thought, and I think myself, that I was over-
2. W. H. Wackenroder and L. Tieck, Herzensergies- reticent in introducing Mr. Smith. I may now
zungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders , together
with Wackenroder's contributions to the Phantasien say that the reason for that is that he asked me
über die Kunst für Freunde der Kunst , edited by not
A. to say a great deal about his lecture. He
Gillies (Oxford, 1966). In English in Wilhelm
wished
Heinrich Wackenroder's * Confessions ' and * Fantasies* , it to speak for itself. Having heard this
translated, annotated and introduced by M. H. eloquent and indeed fascinating lecture, I can
Schubert (Pennsylvania State University Park and
London, 1971)- well understand why he wanted that. Now that I
3. J. D. Fiorillo, Geschichte der zeichnenden Künste , etc. am free from the inhibition, I must say how
(Hanover, 1817), Vol. 4, II, pp. 340 ff.
4. C. G. von Murr, Journal zur Kunstgeschichte und zur literally thought-provoking I found it. I think at
Literatur (10 er Theil) (Nürnberg, 1781). the same time one has to add that in the matter
5. Rupprich, Vol. I, p. 43 ; Conway, p. 48.
6. Rupprich, Vol. I, p. 101 ; Conway, p. 165. of the artist's journeys I personally feel rather as
7. See note 5. if I had been to the dentist and lost a favourite
8. A passage in Cnristopn bene uri, Liöeiius de lauaious
G er mam ae, etc. (Leipzig, 1508), has frequently been tooth, or tripped on a staircase I thought I knew
cited as conclusive proof that Dürer made two rather well. To see a complete journey of
journeys to Italy. It reads 'Qui quum nuper in
Italiam rediisset, tum a Venetis, turn a Bononiensibus Dlirer's, in which I had myself always believed,
artificibus, me saepe interprete, consalutatus est alterdisappear - convincingly, I agree, but disappear
Apelles', and its first part has been taken to mean that
Dürer returned to Italy. The word redire , however, so rapidly - has left me a little dazed. Yet one of
frequently means come down to, so that the initialthe things that art history must do is challenge,
phrase could easily read 'when he came down to
Italy recently . . . ', thus providing no implication of especially the accretions around many of the
an earlier journey. things that we assume are facts. Therefore and
9. Rupprich, Vol. I, p. 221.
10. Rupprich, Vol. I, p. 54; Conway, p. 55- to that extent we all benefit. I speak, I am sure,
il. See note 5. for everyone here in saying, and very warmly,
12. K. Fiore-Herrmann, Das Problem der Datierung bei
how grateful we are to Mr. Smith.
Dürers Landschaftsaquarellen in Anzeiger des Ger-
manischen Nationalmuseums , 1971/72 (Nürnberg,
1972). The meeting concluded with the usual demon-
13. Rupprich, Vol. I, p. 214; Conway, p. 145.
14. For example, compare Dürer s Oswott Kr el with strations of appreciation.
Titian's Man with a Blue Sleeve (London, National
Gallery). I

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